Publication News

14th September 2017

Nanoparticle assembly enabled by EHD-printed monolayers

Researchers in the Advanced Nanoscale Engineering Group have published in Nature Microsystems & Nanoengineering research combining self-assembly and printing to achieve additively nanomanufactured structures.
They showed that monolayers can drive the assembly of nanoparticles into pre-defined patterns with single-particle resolution; then crucially demonstrated for the first time that molecular monolayers can be printed using electrohydrodynamic (EHD)-jet printing. The functionality and resolution of such printed monolayers drives the self-assembly of nanoparticles, demonstrating the integration of EHD with self-assembly. This shows that such process combinations can lead towards more integrated process flows in nanomanufacturing. This article was highlighted as the feature article for the journal issue.

11th September 2017

Janaki Shanmugam, Konstantin Borisenko and co-authors in Electron Image Analysis Group have released eRDF Analyser software, a new free and open code software that brings to the masses computation of atomistic pair distribution function (PDF) from electron diffraction data. An easy to use and interactive interface of the software allows straightforward calculation of the PDF that represents distribution of interatomic distances in amorphous and polycrystalline materials. Analysis of such materials is often required in various applications, from energy materials to catalyst nanoparticles. The software is described in SoftwareX publication.

8th September 2017

Origin of Superconductivity and Latent Charge Density Wave in NbS2

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have generated considerable interest in recent years, since they provide an ideal playground for studying semiconductors, metals, and superconductors in two dimensions using the same structural template. In the case of superconducting TMDs, one remarkable feature is that Cooper pair condensation usually coexists with a charge density wave (CDW), raising the question on whether superconductivity and the CDW cooperate or compete in these compounds. In this work published in Physical Review Letters, researchers in the Materials Modelling and Design Group elucidate the origin of the phonon-mediated superconductivity in 2H-NbS2 completely from first principles. They demonstrate that the electron-lattice coupling is dominated by low-energy anharmonic phonons, which place the system on the verge of a charge density wave instability. These findings call for further efforts to determine whether the proposed mechanism underpins superconductivity in the whole family of metallic transition metal dichalcogenides.

5th September 2017

A new approach to fabricate superconducting NbTi alloys

Tayebeh Mousavi and collagues in the Centre for Applied Superconductivity have reported in Superconductor Science and Technology successful fabrication of superconducting Nb(Ti) alloy samples by ball-milling pure Nb and Ti powders at room temperature, a simple processing route compared to the thermomechanical process used in industry. Superconducting properties have been measured in consolidated bulk samples of the milled product with Jc and Bc2 values comparable with those of conventionally processed NbTi wires. A nanometre-scale layered microstructure with some similarities to those achieved in Nb–Ti wires has been shown to arise naturally from the intrinsic processes involved in mechanical alloying, and strong pinning has been demonstrated in the consolidated Nb(Ti) material.

5th September 2017

In-Service Oxidation and Microstructural Evolution of a Nickel Superalloy in a Formula 1 Car Exhaust

Researchers in the Atom Probe group and collaborators around the UK have recently published Oxidation of Metals an analysis of oxidation and microstructural evolution of an Inconel 625 alloy exhaust manifold exposed to an automobile racing environment using a combination of advanced analytical methods to characterize the surface and near-surface. The dynamic, corrosive gas conditions result in accelerated oxidation, with the inner exhaust surface also heavily contaminated by multiple species including Zn, P, K and Na. Nb carbides and Ti nitrides identified in stock control samples evolve into mixed (Ti, Nb)N species during exposure, decorated by smaller Mo, Si-rich precipitates.

7th August 2017

Valley-addressable polaritons in atomically thin semiconductors

Dr Aurélien Trichet and Prof Jason Smith in the Photonic Nanomaterials Group have recently published their latest work on cavity QED with 2D materials in Nature Photonics. In this work, the formation of polariton states in cavity-coupled monolayer MoSe2 allows the observation of spin-valley effects that were previously invisible in this material. The work is in collaboration with the Tartakovskii group at the University of Sheffield, the Novoselov group at the University of Manchester, and the Malpuech group at the Institut Pascal. A News and Views article discussing the work has also been published.

4th August 2017

Phase-change materials for non-volatile photonic applications

Professor Harish Bhaskaran and co-authors recently published an invited review paper in Nature Photonics covering the newly emerging area of phase change photonics. Matthias Wuttig at RWTH Aachen is the world's leading expert on the materials science of these materials; Harish Bhaskaran covered their use in applications such as displays and emerging photonic memory and cognitive computing applications; Thomas Taubner covered their use in reconfigurable nanophotonics (metamaterials).

3rd August 2017

Jack Haley in the MFFP Group reports in Acta Materialia an investigation into how radiation damage accumulates in FeCrAl alloys by irradiating a selection of alloys in-situ with Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). FeCrAl alloys are candidates for fuel cladding in Pressurised Water Reactors that can exhibit enhanced accident tolerance compared with the zirconium based alloys in use today.

1st August 2017

Scaling Limits of Graphene Nanoelectrodes

Syed Ghazi in collaboration with Jan Mol recently published in NanoLetters the first report of the fact that scaling of graphene nanoelectrodes has a limit imposed by the formation and breaking of carbon bonds when the gaps sizes are below a few nm. This builds upon years of work in scaling down electrode limits and shows our data which suggests (completely unexpectedly) that there is a limit to scaling.

27th July 2017

This report in Advanced Electronic Materials by Gerardo Rodriguez‐Hernandez in the NanoEng group shows the operation of phase change devices in the mixed optical and electrical domain, and builds a non-volatile mixed-mode switch. It shows that the actual design of the optical stack determines absorption, which can thus be tuned depending on the wavelength.